WIST Quotations

Howells, William Dean -- Their Wedding Journey, ch. 2 “Midsummer-Day’s Dream” [Basil] (1872)

Dave — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 17:10:51 +0000

Nothing is so hard to understand as that there are human beings in this world besides one’s self and one’s own set.

William Dean Howells (1837–1920) American author, literary critic, and playwright
Their Wedding Journey, ch. 2 “Midsummer-Day’s Dream” [Basil] (1872)
(Source)

Howells, William Dean -- Interview with Orison Swett Marden, Success Magazine

Dave — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 13:22:49 +0000

I know, indeed, of nothing more subtly satisfying and cheering than a knowledge of the real good will and appreciation of others. Such happiness does not come with money, nor does it flow from a fine physical state. It cannot be brought. But it is the keenest joy, after all, and the toiler’s truest and best reward.

William Dean Howells (1837–1920) American author, literary critic, and playwright
Interview with Orison Swett Marden, Success Magazine
(Source)

Quoted in Marden, How They Succeeded: Life Stories of Successful Men Told by Themselves, ch. 11 (1901).

Howells, William Dean -- Letter to Charles Eliot Norton (6 Apr 1903)

Dave — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 16:33:44 +0000

The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.

William Dean Howells (1837–1920) American author, literary critic, and playwright
Letter to Charles Eliot Norton (6 Apr 1903)
(Source)